Troubled (REWRITE)
by OML.Layla
Summary: REWRITE TO TROUBLED: What if Elena wasn't the Salvatore brothers main priority? When they come back to Mystic Falls they meet Madeline Clairwell, she manages to change them. Maybe for the better. But will they change her for the worst? With vampires, werewolves, witches, and even Originals showing up, feelings are flying everywhere. WARNING: profanity, violence and lemons!
1. Chapter One: Pilot

**Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I accidentally posted the wrong chapter. Thank you Charmed2100 for pointing it out. I fixed it and this is the chapter I meant to post. I hope you guys still read it!**

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_**Chapter One: Pilot**_

"Good morning, honey." Mrs. Clairwell greeted her daughter as she poured herself a cup of coffee. Madeline gave her mom a sweet smile as she entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Mom." Madeline moved over to the counter and grabbed an apple from the bowl of many apples. They were mostly for decoration, but she was hungry.

"I found your schedule in the pile of mail from yesterday." Mrs. Clairwell said, pulling out an envelope from her purse. She quickly handed it over to her daughter.

"Thanks.'' Madeline muttered, taking the envelope. She noticed how her mom was inspecting her outfit.

"I like your outfit. If only you would get rid of those horrible glasses. I thought I bought you contacts." Her mom criticized. Madeline was wearing a cute black skirt that stopped above her knees and a pink, sweater like, long sleeve that she tucked into skirt loosely. For shoes, she was wearing her normal combat boots that she never failed to incorporate in every one of her outfits.

On most girls this outfit would have given off a more sexy or hot vibe, but on Madeline it seemed to match her innocent and bubbly personality. She stood at a small five feet, but with her boots it gave her a couple more inches. Her height just seemed to match her personality as well. She was very small framed and her complexion was fairly pale, but it made her ocean blue eyes pop out as well as her pink, plump lips. Her dark brown hair, that fell over her shoulder and reached her mid back, was now curled at the ends to match her outfit. To most guys she was one of the prettiest girls at school, but she wasn't really cut out for popularity. She left that for Caroline Forbes. Madeline on the other hand was known for being the sweet, adorable, approachable, girl. However, she didn't care much about her title at school.

Madeline self consciously fixed her black framed glasses on her slime nose and looked at her mother nervously. "You did. I just don't like the idea of touching my eyeball. It's...weird." She admitted.

"Well, don't you want to look your best for your first day of school? Oh well, it not like you have any guys to impress unless you have decided to bring your friendship with Matt or Jeremy to the next level." Mrs. Claire well said, full of hope.

Madeline had always been extremely close to Matt Donovan and Jeremy Gilbert. They had all grown up with each other and they became Madeline's brother figures and it wasn't a secret that they treated her like a sister as well. They always felt the need to protect her due to her soft, vulnerable personality.

But the thought of her being romantically involved with either of them made her cringe. She didn't think she could ever see either of them in that way. Plus, she knew that Matt was still hung up on Elena Gilbert and Jeremy was having some fling with Vicki Donovan.

"No, Mom." Madeline told her mom, in a bored tone. Her mom would always ask her why she wasn't dating either boys and Madeline always told her that it was because she didn't see them in that way. She knew her mom had always wanted her to have boyfriend, but Madeline didn't like relationships nowadays. Nowadays people would date for a week and then break up and hate each other. She knew she could never have any romantic feelings for anybody unless she truly knew and trusted the person and even then she couldn't imagine ending up hating someone she was romantically involved with. So, she just stayed away from dating. Of course she had kisses and make out sessions with guys, but they were usually if she was just too drunk to make better decisions, or she knew the person. However, she had never actually had sex with somebody before. She thought that whoever she did it with should be someone she trusted more than anybody and she had yet to find a good candidate. But it wasn't like it was on her mind all the time.

It was actually not something she thought about much. Sure the thought has crossed her mind before but she was never the boy crazy type.

"That's a shame. Now that Matt and Elena are broken up i was sure something would spark between you two." Mrs. Clairwell said, sounding pretty disappointed and Madeline felt a little bad, but she couldn't change what she felt.

"I should be getting on my way to school. I wouldn't want to be late on my first day." Madeline cheerfully told her mother as she grabbed her car keys and started heading for the door.

"Wait!" Her mom called after her, making her stop. "You father wanted me let you know that he is having some important people from work over tonight, so he wants you to stay at a friends house for the night." This wasn't the first time this had happened. Her father, very frequently, had people from work over the house and she would have to stay over at either Matt or Jeremy's house for the night. It happened so much that she even had spare outfits and a toothbrush at their houses just in case.

"Okay." Madeline nodded her head and then completely walked out of the house. As soon as she stepped outside she felt the fresh wind hit her face and she could help but inhale it and admire it. It was such a nice day outside, so she quickly decided that she wanted to walk to school today and enjoy it further. She took a few shortcuts and walked down the roads that were almost always empty. This way she didn't have to worry about the cars.

She liked school. More than most people usually do. She thought it was because she was pretty good at all of the subjects. She tended to catch on faster than most and she always used it to her advantage. The only class she didn't like was Mr. Tanner's class. She had never been on the receiving side of his wrath, but she disagreed with his tactics of getting students to participate in class. These tactics mostly included embarrassment. She always did what she was supposed to do and stayed quiet. If she was called on she was always prepared with the correct answer and made it almost impossible for Mr. Tanner to find a reason to embarrass her. She easily maintained a 4.0 gpa and her record with spotless. It was hard for teachers to dislike her. She never misbehaved, she never tried to suck up to the teachers. She just did what she was supposed to do and kept it at that.

"Are you lost?" Madeline heard a male voice ask from behind her. She jumped at the sudden surprise of someone being around. Nobody usually used this road, so she wasn't used to seeing other people there. She turned around to face the man who startled her and was faced with a ridiculously good looking male. He was standing about 15 feet away from her, but close enough so she could see his features. He had a tall, well built structure to his body with a strong jaw. His hair was very dark, maybe black, and it fell over his forehead. But what really captured Madeline were his eyes. It was as if she was holding an icicle up at a light blue sky and looked through it. They were definitely one of a kind.

"Oh, no. Sorry, I was just heading to school." She told him truthfully. She rarely ever lied unless she knew she had to. But as far she knew, this guy wasn't much of a threat to her. Little did she know…

He looked at her for a second, and studied her. He could smell her blood from a mile away. It had a strong scent that he hadn't smelt before. It was almost...intoxicating. All he wanted to do was sink his teeth into her neck.

"I'm Madeline." Madeline introduced holding out her hand. She guessed that he was new in town since she hadn't seen him before and she wanted to be friendly. He gave her a weird look, as if waiting to see if she was serious. After a moment of realizing that this wasn't an act of some sort, he took her hand in his and changed his confused expression into a smirking one.

"I'm Damon." He then proceeded to take her hand and move it to his lips, laying a small kiss on the back of her hand. She wasn't use to this kind of affection, so she had no control over the blush overcoming her checks.

"Are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you before." She asked, keeping a smile on her face, exposing her perfectly straight, white teeth.

"I was just passing by." He told her simply.

"Oh, where are you off to? If you don't mind me asking of course, considering I'm a complete stranger."

"I don't know. I've been almost everywhere. Maybe Maine. I haven't been there in years." He told her, surprising himself, but he also knew that he would compel away her memories of this whole conversation afterwards anyways, so he figured it didn't matter what he said.

"That's nice. I've heard it's nice in Maine. However, I do recommend spending a few days here. It may just look like a simple boring town, but this place has a lot of history behind it. It's quite interesting, actually." Madeline informed him.

"Oh believe me. I know." He said under his breath, remembering the past.

"Sorry what was that?" Madeline asked, not catching what he said.

He quickly composed himself before saying, "I said maybe you're right. I've always been sort of a history buff. On another note; you wouldn't happen to know a girl named Elena, would you?" He asked, casually.

"Elena Gilbert? Yeah, I'm best friends with her younger brother. How do you know her?" Madeline asked, getting a little suspicious.

"I met her the other night. She seemed nice." He said, recalling the conversation he had with the girl who reminded him so much of the love of his life.

"She is. She's been through a lot. Her whole family has." Madeline told him, not wanting to get to into it, seeing as it wasn't her story to tell.

"And you?" He asked, confusing her.

"Me what?"

"Have you been through a lot?" He clarified.

"Everyone goes through their hard times." She replied, letting the memory of her sister pass her mind.

"Some are harder than others." He commented.

"I feel no one's situation should be downgraded while being compared to someone else's situation." She told him.

"You seem to be very wise." Damon said lightly, making Madeline chuckle.

"I'm very far from wise." She disagreed.

"What do you want?" Damon asked, taking a step closer.

"What?" She seemed confused.

"From life. What do you want from life?" He reworded the question. Her mouth hung open for a second, but nothing come out, realising she didn't have an answer to the question.

"I don't know what I want. I'm still young, though. I'm sure I'll figure it out." She said, staying optimistic.

"I know what you want." He told her, smugly.

She let a smile play on her face, "Oh do you? You've know me all of three minutes. How could you possibly know something about myself that I don't know?"

"You want what everybody wants. You want adventure, passion, a love that consumes you, and maybe a little bit of danger." He said, taking another step closer.

"How are you so sure that's what I want?" She asked, not necessarily disagreeing with him.

"Call it a hunch." He shrugged.

"You say everybody wants those things, right?" She questioned.

"Everyone I've met. And I've met a lot of people in my many years of living." He told her, confidently.

"Then is that what you want?" She asked, seeming really interested in what he would say. But before he could answer her phone started ringing. She looked down to see it was Matt calling. What she looked back up at Damon he was already making intense eye contact with her.

"What I want is for you to find everything you are looking for. You and I will get to be great friends, but for now, I want you to forget this entire conversation and forget you ever met me. I would want people knowing I'm town. It kind of ruins the element of surprise." Damon finished his compulsion and the blank look on Madeline's face told him it worked, so he used his supernatural speed to run into the wood and out of her vision.

From in the woods he watched as she blinked a few time and looked around in confusion. She then looked down at her phone and answered it.

"Hey Matt." She said in her usual happy voice. The same voice she used when she greeted Damon.

"_Hey, are you coming to school?" _Damon used his enhanced hearing to listen in on what the person on the other end of the phone was saying.

"Yeah, I just decided to walk. It's to nice of a day not to. I'll be at school in around ten minutes." Madeline ensured.

"_Okay, I'll see you in class. Be safe and try not to trip and break anything." _Matt said, sarcastically since Madeline had always been pretty clumsy.

She laughed, "No promises."

_0_

As Madeline walked through the halls she was looking for her locker for the year. Sadly, she didn't get to keep the same one she used last year, but it didn't bother her that much. Change could be good. Even if it was just a locker.

"Hey Mads." Madeline looked over to where the voice came from and saw the youngest Gilbert approaching her.

"Hey, Jer." She greeted back, offering her infamous smile. When she noticed he only gave her a half smile back she could could tell something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Elena's just smothering me. She wants me to talk to her about my feelings and all that crap." He told her, not even trying to lie and say nothing was wrong. He knew she could always tell when he was lying.

"She means well, Jer. Just don't patronize her." Madeline said.

"I know, it's just...irritating sometimes." He sighed.

"I know." Madeline gave him her best supportive smile before remembering something. "Oh, I almost forgot; can I spend the night at your house?'

"Yeah, you practically live there anyways." Jeremy joked.

"What can I say; your bed is comfy." Madeline told him playfully. "I have to go find my locker, but I'll meet you outside at the end of the day." She added.

"Do you need help finding your locker?" He asked.

Madeline chuckled, "I think I manage."

"Okay, I'll see you later, Clairwell." Jeremy said, walking away.

"Bye, Gilbert."

She then proceeded to try and look for her locker. It took a few minutes, but she managed to find it. She sighed, with relief and put in the correct combination. She pulled her small black backpack off her back and unzipped it.

Inside, were all the books she was going to need for the first semester, but she didn't need some of them until after lunch, so only took out the books she would need for the first three periods. But in the process of trying to hold her backpack and her books they fell threw her small arms and crashed to the ground.

She immediately crouched down to the floor and tried to gather them together as fast as she could without drawing much attention to herself. But then she saw someone crouch down with her and help pick up the things she dropped. She looked up at who it was and was met with a fairly cute, hazel eyed boy. He had light brown hair, that seemed to be gelled in place, but in a nice way. She also noticed that he had really strong features, that also looked to be soft at the same time. It was a pretty interesting sight, in her opinion.

She quickly stood up with most of her things in her arms and he followed her movements and stood up as well. "Thank you." She thanked, taking the books from his hands. He looked at her, suddenly more aware of himself and keeping himself under control. Being so close to her made him feel on edge; like he could vamp out at any second. He was still struggling with the bloodlust and her scent made him want to sink his teeth into her neck.

She found it weird that he didn't say anything back. He was just standing there stuck in his own thoughts, but she didn't want to be rude so she just moved to dump the books she didn't need into her locker, along with her bag. This seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in.

"Sor-sorry. Your welcome." he said, remembering that she thanked him. She offered him a small smile before closing her locker and walking away. He had no idea who she was. But for some reason he wanted to. He had never met anybody who carried that kind strong of scent, which made him think she might know about the supernatural world. Who was she?

_0_

Lunch came by soon and Madeline found herself sitting against a tree, that was positioned in front of the school, reading a book. Hamlet to be exact. She had read it before, but then again it wouldn't be the first time she decided to re-read a book. She would usually be with Matt, but she saw him and Elena talking and she didn't want to intrude.

Jeremy was never really an option during lunch. He was always with Vicki taking pills or smoking weed. As much as she loved the younger Gilbert boy, she wasn't into those things. She didn't mind sitting by herself though. It gave her a sense of peace.

Stefan was walking by, but when he saw her, he stopped. He watched as she flipped to the next page with a look of peacefulness on her face. Just looking at her demolished any thought of her being involved with vampires and whatnot. She looked far to innocent, almost childlike, to know about those things. This didn't stop him from walking up to her and taking a seat on the ground next to her.

Before, he was caught off guard by her scent, but now he had an idea of what to expect. It wasn't easy to control himself, it never was, but he forced that part of himself into the back of his mind and tried to come off as normal as possible.

Somehow, she hadn't noticed his presence. She was far to into her book to notice anything around her. He noticed that she hadn't looked up from her book, so he decided to speak up and make his presence known. He just didn't know what to say. He looked at the book she was reading and recognized it immediately.

"Did you know that Hamlet, was originally based on an earlier play, but over the years the earlier play was lost." Stefan told her, making her jump.

"Oh I didn't see you there." She laughed nervously, "I sometimes get too wrapped up in my books, but you've read Hamlet? Probably for a school project, right?" She guessed.

"Actually I've read it a few times over the summer for fun. It's one of my favorites by William Shakespeare." he informed her.

"I'm surprised. Most people only read it for school; they don't exactly enjoy the book."

"Well I definitely did. I'm Stefan, by the way." He introduced, realizing they haven't exchanged names yet.

"It's nice to meet you , Stefan. I'm Madeline." She smiled. "Are you new? I don't think I've seen you before." She asked.

"Yeah, I just moved back." He answered.

"Moved back?"

"Yeah, I was born here, but I moved while I was still young. I live in at the Boarding House." He clarified.

"The Salvatore Boarding House? Like with Zach Salvatore?" When she was younger her parents got Zach to babysit her and he would let her engolf herself in their library.

"You know Zach?" He questioned, growing a little suspicious.

"Yeah, he use to babysit me when I was younger. I use to love it there. It was like a museum." She told him with a thoughtful smile on her face. She hadn't been there in years. Not since Evelyn.

"Yeah, it was passed down through the family, so there are a lot of antiques." He told her.

"Well, antiques are pretty fascinating. They hold a lot of history." Before he could come up with a response the bell rang, indicating that lunch was over. Madeline quickly closed her book and stood up on her feet, using the tree as support and Stefan did the same.

"What do you have next?" Stefan asked, silently hoping they might have the same class together. He knew he initially came to Mystic Falls to find out more about Elena, but he didn't expect to meet someone else who would catch his attention as well. He watched as she pulled out a piece of paper that was wedged between the pages of her book and looked at it. He guessed it was her schedule.

"Um English." She told him, looking up from paper.

"With Mrs. Peterson?" He asked.

_0_

Turns out Madeline and Stefan both had the same English class so when they arrived together, they also sat next to each other. Mrs. Peterson quickly made her way into the room, with her black heels clanking against the ground. She was those intimidating, get straight to the point, type of teachers. Most kids didn't like her very much, but Madeline didn't mind her. She was pretty hard on the students, but it was also her job. She could be nicer about it, but Madeline wasn't going to question her teaching tactics.

"Alright class, settle down." She said looking over the students and nobody wasted any time getting into their correct seat and turning their attention to the teacher. "I'm not going to waste my time explaining the rules and guidelines. You guys have been in school your whole lives, you'll figure it first assignment for the year will be to read the excerpts from ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, and then you will analyze and interpret aesthetic beauty. You will apply your knowledge by identifying, analyzing, _and_ interpreting beauty in excerpts from Beethoven's fifth symphony. You are to work on it with one other person in this class. I could care less who, but you will work with someone, so I don't need anyone coming up to me and asking if they can work by themselves because the answer _will _be no." Mrs Peterson said, sternly and everyone could see she wasn't playing around.

For the remainder of class she lectured about something Madeline wasn't paying much attention too. She was too busy doodling in her notebook. She wasn't worried about missing something important, though. She was way ahead in most of her classes; including this one. So she could easily just not pay attention for a day without any worries.

She seemed to lose track of time because before she knew it the bell rung and everyone starting rushing out of the class. She started gathering her things and getting out of her chair, when Stefan's voice stopped her.

"Hey, Madeline." She looked over to him and waited for him to ask what he needed to ask. "Wanna be my partner for my project?" He asked.

She smiled sweetly and responded, "Of course, but um, could we work on it at your place?" She asked. The last thing she needed was for her mother to think she was into a guy. She would never hear the end of it. And although her mother was encouraging her date, her father was very much against it.

_0_

Once school ended Madeline and Jeremy drove to the grill together to get some food before heading back over to his house. However, as soon as they got into the grill Jeremy spotted Vicki at a booth, cleaning up. Madeline noticed this and looked back over to Jeremy. "Go." She encouraged.

He looked back at her, surprised, "Are you sure?"

"Totally. I'm gonna go grab a burger and soda." She ensured him.

His face lightened, "You're the best." And with that he walked over to his crush. Madeline smiled at his retreating figure and then made her way up to the counter, where the bartender was. She seated herself down on a stool and waited for the bartender to notice her. This didn't take to long.

"Hey, Madeline! What can I get for you?" The bartender, also known as Josh, asked with a big flirty smile on his face. Madeline didn't see the flirty part, but that's just because she was too naive for her own good. She wasn't good with romantic feelings and could barely ever tell if a guy was interested.

"A burger and Diet Coke." She answered, being friendly as always.

"For here or to go?" he asked. Madeline looked over at Jeremy, who was laughing with Vicki, and then turned back to Josh.

"For here." She told him. Josh then went to the back to start making her burger, leaving her sitting by herself in boredom. She decided to turn around in her seat and let her eyes scan the grill to see if she knew anyone there. The first people she recognized were Caroline and Bonnie. She had known them, but they were never really friends. Madeline didn't think she fit in well with that crowd. She didn't even like be classified as 'in a crowd' in general. Plus, Caroline didn't like her. Madeline never knew why, but she didn't let it bother her too much. As far as Madeline could tell, Bonnie seemed really nice, but it was just a case of who they hung with.

The sound the door makes when someone opens it, snapped Madeline out of her thoughts and her eyes went towards who just walked into the grill. To her surprise it was Stefan and Elena. She didn't know they knew each other. Well it kind of made sense. Elena was kind of known as being popular, plus she was really sweet and undeniable pretty.

Stefan looked around the grill nervously until his eyes landed on Madeline sitting at the bar. It was an interesting sight she was staring off into space, clearly stuck in her own thoughts, with her feet dangling in the air since the stool was far to high. He had never seen anybody that looks as fragile as she does.

Madeline seemed to snap out of her thoughts once again and her eyes immediately connected with Stefan's. She offered him a small smile from where she was sitting and he easily returned it.

"I'll be right back." Stefan told Elena, glancing at Madeline. Elena looked at him confused for a second, but then followed where his glances were pointed to and quickly understood. She tried to mask her disappointment with a small smile. "Yeah, I'll be sitting right over there." She told him pointing to where she was going to be sitting down. He nodded and then walked over to Madeline.

"I see you make friends fast." Madeline commented with a smile. She was genuinely happy that he was making friends on his first day. She could only imagine returning to a town where you have no friends.

"Yeah, you know Elena?" He asked.

"Yeah, we aren't close, but I'm close with her brother Jeremy." She informed him.

"Oh are you and him…" Madeline didn't even let him finish his accusation and quickly cut him off with laughter.

"No he's like my best friend. And way to young for me." She laughed and for some reason he was relieved. Josh came back with Madeline's burger and soda and placed it in front of her.

"That'll be $8.50." He told her and she quickly handed him a ten dollar bill. He went to get her change, but she stopped him.

"Keep it." She told him.

"Thank you." Josh smiled at her before walking away to take someone else's order.

"Well, I'm sitting over there with Elena, if you want to join?" Stefan subtly brought up. Well, he tried to subtly bring it up. Madeline looked over to where he was pointing to and saw Elena sitting at a table with Bonnie and Caroline. She felt a little uneasy about going and just sitting with them. "I don't know."

"Come on." he tried to convince her and lucky for him, she wasn't the stubborn type and before she knew it she was sitting at the table with them.

As soon as they got there Caroline started to bombard Stefan with questions and after the first few Madeline sort of just tuned herself out. She wondered if she would be able to go back to her house tomorrow or if her father was going to have more important people over. She understood her fathers reasonings, but she just wished she could be home more often. Usually when she is home, it's when her mom and dad were out on an important business meeting. All of these business meetings and important people stuff started happening after her sister, Evelyn, died. Before that they were a normal, happy family that never had any problems.

"Are you going, Madeline?" Stefan asked her. Madeline's head shot up and she realized she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Going where?" She asked, looking around the table, confused.

"To the Back to School Bonfire tomorrow." Bonnie told her.

Madeline quickly remembered about that and how she goes every year, 'Oh, yeah I'm going."


	2. Chapter Two: Pilot Part B

_**Chapter Two: Pilot Part B**_

Today has been a pretty normal day for Madeline. Nothing really happened at school for her besides the usual. However, she didn't talk to Stefan much today. Anytime she thought of approaching him he was usually pre-occupied talking to Elena and she didn't want to be rude and interrupt.

On the bright side, when she got home her parents weren't there so she sat on the couch watching The Office while drinking hot chocolate in her pajamas. Anytime she wanted a good laugh this was her go-to show. Sadly, all of this was interrupted when the doorbell rang. She set her mug on the coffee table that was positioned in the living room before walking over to the door. When she opened it, she was surprised to see Stefan on the other side of it.

"Stefan! It's nice to see you." She smiled politely. It was as if her smile were contagious or something because almost immediately Stefan had a smile on his face as well.

"Hi, Madeline. I was just stopping by to see if you wanted a ride to Bonfire." he said, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

The Bonfire completely left her mind. She forgot that it was tonight. "Shoot. I forgot about that. Um, I have you get dressed, but you can come in and wait if you want." She offered walking further into her house.

Stefan nodded and walked into her threshold with ease. Weirdly enough, Madeline's bedroom was in the basement. When they moved here there were three bedrooms, but after Madeline saw the basement she knew she had to live down there. It was finished, of course, and it had plenty of room for all of her stuff and more. There was even a bathroom down there for her too.

Stefan watched as walked down the stairs and took this time to look around her house. Everything was so neat and put together. There was even a family picture with Madeline in it with what looked like her parents, but there was someone else in the picture. He didn't recognize her, but she had similar features to Madeline; not nearly the same, but close. She also looked older in that picture. Maybe only by a few years, though. He also noticed that there was a baby in the picture. He guessed it was a sibling of Madeline.

Before he knew it, Madeline was coming back up the stairs with her new outfit on. This outfit was similar to the outfit she wore yesterday. Since it was dark and probably a little chilly Madeline decided on a black skirt that stopped mid thigh, a cream colored sweater-like long sleeve shirt that she tucked into her skirt loosely. On top of that she had a maroon scarf around her neck and black tights that lightly showed the colored of her legs. For shoes, of course, she had her combat boots and she let her, loosely curled, hair fall down her back as always.

Stefan couldn't help but admire her. Even when she was in her pajamas with her hair in a messy bun, she still managed to look good. He quickly shook those thoughts out of his head and remembered that he didn't come to Mystic Falls to develop a crush on a cute girl.

Madeline noticed his staring and quickly became self-conscious. "Do I look okay?" She asked, nervously. His eyes widened and he realized he had been staring and probably gave off the wrong impression.

"Yeah, yeah. You look great." He answered, quickly. A smile spread on her face, full of relief.

"Well, let's go." She said, excitedly and headed for the door.

* * *

The car ride was pretty silent until Madeline decided to break the silence. "So how are you adapting to the new school?"

He glanced over at her before responding, "Pretty good. Everyone seems nice. Except my history teacher, Mr. Tanner. I don't think he likes me much."

"Yeah, he has an...interesting way of teaching. He can sometimes be a pain, but I just try and remember that he's just doing his job." Madeline says truthfully. "You know he's also the couch for the football team. Maybe that's how you could get on his good side. Are you good at football?" She remembers.

"I'm pretty good." He admits. "But I'm more of the loner type." He adds, making Madeline laugh.

"Okay, well I think you should try out. It could be fun." She suggested.

"Maybe." He slightly gives in. Madeline smiles to herself before turning the radio on. The first song that came on was Wonderwall by Oasis. Madeline immediately got excited and turned it up.

"I love this song." She told Stefan who was smiling with amusement. The windows were down and the wind was blowing in Madeline face as she was singing along to the song and Stefan was laughing at her. He watched as the wind was blowing her dark, curled hair all over the place at it somehow still looked good. Out of all the people he's meet in his 161 years of living, he's never met someone like her. She was sweet, always seemed to get stuck in her thoughts, beautifully naive and innocent. She was something else. This also made him promise to himself that he would never get her involved with the supernatural part of his life. He knew, just from knowing her a couple day, that she wouldn't be able to handle it. She saw the good in everything and would inevitably try and see the good in being a vampire.

* * *

The car ride soon came to an end and they were walking towards the Bonfire side by side. "I wouldn't have guessed this was your type of scene." Stefan commented as they walked.

"I don't do much of the drinking part, but I usually come to hang out with Matt or Jeremy." Madeline says. "I wouldn't have guessed this was your scene, either. You know, loner and all." She joked.

Stefan chuckled, but before he could respond Caroline strutted over. "Hey, Stefan." Caroline greeted with a flirty smile presented on her face as she acted like Madeline wasn't their.

"Hi, Caroline." Stefan said politely, noticing how Madeline got a little uncomfortable when Caroline showed up.

"I'm glad you decided to show up." Caroline said, clearly a little buzzed.

"Me too." Stefan said as he glanced over a Madeline. Caroline noticed this and couldn't help but feel jealous.

"Well, let's get you a drink." Caroline suggested, wanting to get him as far away from Madeline as she could.

Well, I'm," Stefan started to object, but Caroline just ignored it and pulled him away. Stefan sent Madeline an apologetic look and she just offered him a small smile that said, 'it's alright'. And with that she was standing by herself.

This didn't last for long because Matt saw her standing alone and walked up to her. "Hey Maddy." He said, calling her by her nickname. Madeline swifty turned around to be greeted with one of best friends.

"Hi, Matty." She said back.

"So, you and Stefan came together, huh?" He asked, recalling when he saw them walking together. He couldn't help but feel a little bit of envy towards Stefan. First he saw him with Elena and now with Madeline; two girls who he has grown to be very fond of in two completely different ways.

"Um, yeah. I almost forgot this bonfire and he reminded me and gave me a ride." She told him, simply.

Matt wanted more then anything to stop talking about Stefan, even if he was the one who brought him up, "Want to get a drink?" He asked. She giggled, but nodded and they walked into the crowd to get two beers. After a lot of bumping into people they reached the cooler and Matt grabbed two beer bottles and handed one to Madeline.

"How are doing with the Elena situation?" Madeline asked, genuinely concerned.

Matt slightly stiffened up at the mentioning of him and Elena. "Um, I don't know. I think she's into Stefan, which kind of sucks, but there isn't anything I can do." Matt shrugged, as if it didn't matter to him, but Madeline saw through his act.

"I'm sorry Matty. I'm sure you'll find someone else." Madeline said, empathetically.

Matt smiled back at his friend, knowing that she somehow always tried to look on the brighter side of things, even if everything sucked.

Madeline wasn't too surprised to hear that Elena was into Stefan. To her, they seemed like the kind of people who would gravitate towards each other. But what she didn't know was that Stefan somehow felt gravitated to Madeline.

Madeline was going to say something, but when she looked over at Matt she saw him staring longingly into the distance. She followed his eyes and saw that he was looking at Elena, who was standing by herself with a somewhat sad expression on her face. Madeline sighed and turned back to her friend.

"Go say something to her." She told him. Matt's head snapped towards Madeline, not realizing she saw him staring.

"No I…" He was about to object, but Madeline stopped him.

"You know you want too. I know you want too. I'm sure she knows you want too. So what's stopping you?" She asked.

Matt looked at her and realized she was right. She was usually always right when it came to these things, so it didn't surprise him. "You right. I should go say something." He admitted, making Madeline smile.

"So go!" She laughed, giving him a playful shove in the direction of Elena. He didn't hesitate as he started walking over to her. Madeline watched as Matt approached Elena and Elena gave him a small smile and they started having a conversation.

Madeline smiled to herself, happy that Matt was finally doing this for himself. She knew how much he loved Elena when they were together and how it broke his heart when she broke things off. But on some level she understood why Elena did what she did. Once you start doing something for a while, without any change you start to crave other things and different experiences. Elena and Matt had been together for basically their whole lives and all they knew when it came to relationship was each other. It would make sense for Elena to want some change in her life.

Madeline managed to snap herself out of her thoughts and looked around. She thought that maybe she'd see Stefan or Jeremy, but she failed to see either. She decided that a nice walk through the woods, away from all the noise would be relaxing, so that what she went off to do. Besides, nothing bad ever happened in Mystic Falls, right?

Ever since Stefan left Elena he had been looking for Madeline and he finally spotted her, but she was heading into the woods. Stefan scrunched his eyebrows together and decided to go after to her.

It didn't take long for Madeline to get a into the woods and find a nice tree stump to sit at. She sat on the stump and took a small sip from her bottle of beer. She never drank much at parties, unless she intentionally wanted to get drunk. But she didn't want to tonight, so she limited herself to one bottle.

"Madeline?" She heard someone say. She turned her head and saw Tyler walking towards her. She got up from the stump and turned her body to face him.

"Hey Tyler." She could tell he was drunk, but decided to not say anything about it.

"I haven't seen you in a while. How are things?" He slurred.

"I think you've had a lot to drink. I can get Stefan to give you a ride home." She offered as she put her bottle down on the stump. Truth be told Tyler had always had a crush on the small Clairwell girl, but he knew she would never go for him. Not with his track record. But Madeline didn't care about his track record. She thought he was nice guy and a possible good friend, but that was it.

But in Tyler's drunken state, he had no control of the words coming out of his mouth. "I don't want to go. I want to tell you something." He said as he stumbled towards her, making Madeline stuffle a giggle, but her smile was quickly faltered at his next words.

"I like you. A lot. Like a lot, a lot. But I know you would never go for me." He admitted and Madeline felt automatically bad. She knew that he would regret saying these things in the morning.

"Come on Ty. I can take you home." She told him walking towards him, gently taking a hold of his arm, but he stopped, preventing Madeline from moving him, since he was much stronger that she was.

"Unless you feel the same way?" He guessed, but he had absolutely no control of anything coming out of his mouth and apparently he had no control over his body, because before Madeline could blink Tyler had managed to push her up against a tree and started groping her.

She tried to push him off, but she was nowhere near as strong as he was. "Tyler, stop it. Your drunk." She told him, but he completely ignored her as he crashed his lips against hers in a sloppy and gross way, that Madeline desperately wanted to stop.

She turned her head to the side, so he could no longer have access to her mouth, but that was a mistake on her part, because it gave him access to her neck. He started laying these sloppy kisses down her neck.

"Stop it, Tyler!" She said, raising her voice, growing scared. He then bit a small part of her neck in the process, making her wince in pain. "Ouch! Tyler that hurts! Please!" She begged as she used her arms to try and push his chest away, but it wasn't working and she cringed as his hands started roaming her body.

Then all of a sudden she felt him being pulled off and thrown to the ground. She quickly looked and saw it was Stefan. She sighed with relief. Tyler stumbled back on his feet and looked over at Stefan with anger.

"Your drunk. Go back to the party." Stefan told him, standing in front of Madeline in a protective manner.

Tyler glanced over at Madeline and a flash of guilt went through his eyes, but nonetheless; he complied and walked off. Once he was gone Stefan turned to Madeline with worry in his eyes.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked, really concerned. He wished he could have seriously hurt Tyler for doing that to Madeline, but he knew he couldn't do that in front of Madeline. He took in Madeline's appearance and saw that her hair was all messed up, her lips were swollen, and she had tears in her eyes. He wished he got there sooner to prevent this from ever happening.

Madeline couldn't even form words. She wouldn't even know what to say. She wasn't okay. She was hurt. More emotionally than physically, but still hurt. So she just threw herself in Stefan's arms and hugged him. He didn't waste anytime pulling the small girl into his arms and rubbing her back.

"Can you take me home?" Madeline mumbled into his chest, but he heard.

He nodded his head, even though she couldn't see his face, "Of course."

* * *

Once they got into the car it was completely silent. Madeline laid her head into the seat and turned her head so it was looking out the window. She didn't want to talk. It was the last thing she wanted to do. She just sat there and let the events of the night replay through her mind.

It baffled her how Tyler was able to do that her. She felt so disgusted with herself. With all of these thoughts going through her head she seemed to someone fall into a slumber. Stefan didn't realize this until he heard her breaths getting slower and softer.

Soon enough he pulled up to her house and got out. He walked over to the passengers seat and pulled the door open. He saw Madeline sitting there with this peaceful look on her face and he couldn't stand to even think about waking her up, especially after the night she had. He bent over and unbuckled her seat belt and then picked her up bridal style.

He remembered that her room was in the basement and he noticed a door on the side of the house that looked like it went to her room, so that being the quickest way, he walked up to that door with Madeline in his arms and managed to open the door without dropping her.

When he got into the room he was surprised at how well her room reflected her personality. (The link to what her bedroom looks like is in my profile) He took a moment to look at her room before walking over to her bed and laying her petite body in the middle of it. He watched as she immediately clung onto one of her pillows and snuggled into it. He smiled to himself and then looked around her room until he found a small white blanket. He took it and then covered Madeline with it, so she doesn't get cold.


	3. Chapter Three: The Night of the Comet

_**Chapter Three: The Night of the Comet**_

As soon as Madeline woke up she was hit with confusion. She didn't remember falling asleep in her bed. She tried her hardest to remember what happened last night, but then she was bombarded with the memories of what happened in the woods with Tyler. She gasped to herself. She thought to herself; how could Tyler do that to her, but then she also remembered how drunk he was and how he was barely in control of anything he was doing.

She knew she had to forgive him. She knew that he would never do that to her if were in control of his actions. She also knew that she felt disgusting and needed a shower. So she pulled herself out of bed and headed to her bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that she was still wearing the same clothes as last night. They were all dirty and she wanted more than anything to get out of them. She walked over to her walk in shower and started to run the hot water.

After a good 15 minutes in the shower Madeline decided to get out and start to get ready. She wasn't planning on going to school today since she woke up late, so she decided to stop at Stefan's house and thank him for bringing her home.

She quickly wrapped a robe around her body and then pulled out her blow drier. She started to use it to dry her hair, which only took all of 10 minutes. Then she pulled out her curling iron and started curling the ends of her hair in loose ringlets. When she was done she put away both hair tools and then walked into her room to find an outfit. Tonight was also the night people were going to gather together in Towns Square to watch a comet pass by.

After searching her closet, Madeline decided on putting on a pair of light blue shorts and a white spaghetti strap tank top. She slipped on her combat boots before grabbing her phone and she saw she had a lot of miss calls and messages. Two texts and 1 call from Jeremy. 3 texts and 3 calls from Matt. And 1 text and 1 call from Stefan. She opened up Jeremy's message first and froze at what it said.

Vicki Donovan was attacked. She filled with worry and moved on to what Matt said, guessing it had something to do with that. She opened it and it said that Vicki was attacked, but that she was okay. It also asked if she was okay because he didn't see her after he left to go talk to Elena.

She quickly sent him a text back saying that she was fine and that she was sorry about what happened to Vicki. She then moved on to what Stefan said.

**From Stefan: I didn't see you at school today. If you want you can stop by my house later and we can hang out.**

Madeline smiled to herself before quickly typing back a response.

**To Stefan: Sorry, I woke up late and sure I'll be over in 10.**

She started to make her way upstairs to the living room, when all of a sudden she heard a voice she hadn't heard in a while.

"Maddy!" Her head whipped around and as soon as she saw who the voice belonged to she broke out in a huge smile.

"Maxy! Oh my god!" She exclaimed and immediately ran over to her baby brother and scooped him up in her arms. He wasn't so much a baby, though. He was 8, but Madeline still saw him as her baby brother. He shared a lot of his features with Madeline. He had the same deep blue eyes and dark brown hair as her. He had a more round nose, opposed to Madeline's slim, more feminine one. His hair was shaggy, probably due to the fact he refuses to get it cut.

"When did you get back from Granny's house?" She asked as she finally released him.

"Last night. Mom and dad picked me up and dropped me off here. I went to your room to go say hi, but you weren't there." He told her.

"Sorry, I went to a bonfire last night with a friend. I didn't get back until late." She explained to him, feeling bad that she wasn't here when he got there. They have always been so close, especially after everything that happen with their sister.

"Who, Matt?" He asked, obviously knowing who his sister's friends were.

"No. Actually there is this new guy in town. His name's Stefan." Madeline told him.

"Is he cool?" Max asked in his childish voice.

"Absolutely." Madeline laughed. "I was actually going to go meet up with him. Are you going to be okay by yourself."

"I'm a big boy, Mads. I can handle myself." Max said, all so confidently. Madeline tilted her head waiting for an actual answer.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Mom should be back in like a half an hour." He sighed. "Can we hang out later? You know, catch up." He asked, missing his big sister. It's been a few months since they've seen each other, so they probably missed a lot from each others lives.

"Of course. I'll be back soon, love you." She laid a kiss on the top of his head before heading for the door.

"Love you too."

* * *

Once Madeline got to the Salvatore Boarding House she went to knock on the door, but when her hand hit it, it opened. It wasn't even properly closed.

"Hello." Madeline said from the doorstep. "Stefan!" Madeline said louder. When she didn't get a response she decided to just turn around and maybe go to the grill or something. She guessed Stefan just wasn't home at the moment.

"Hello there." A voice said from behind Madeline. She quickly turned around, clearly startled. She was absolutely not ready for what she turned around to. The guy in front of her was undeniably good looking. The first thing she noticed about him were his icy blue eyes; they were stunning. He had a really strong jaw structure and raven black hair. But something about the way he held himself, screamed mystery. This made Madeline even more curious.

"Um is Stefan there?" Madeline choked out, still recovering from being scared half to death.

"He should be here any minute now. You're welcome to stay and wait." Madeline knew she probably shouldn't, but she figured nothing bad could happen while waiting for Stefan. He couldn't possibly be that long, right?

"Uh yeah. Sure." Madeline said nervously. A smirk crept onto the guys face as he moved out of the way so Madeline could walk in. Once she got into the living room she turned around to face the guy who let her in.

He wasn't surprised Stefan noticed Madeline. She was sort of hard to miss with her whole persona and all. Plus, her scent. He knew of his younger brother's blood control problem and after he met Madeline he was sure Stefan would vamp out at the smell of her. But apparently, that didn't happen which surprised him. But not by much. Stefan _was _the good brother.

"Who are you anyways?" Madeline asked, snapping Damon out of his thoughts.

"I'm Stefan's older brother; Damon. You must be Madeline." Damon said walking closer to Madeline.

"Stefan told you about me?" Madeline was surprised. Especially because she remembered Stefan mentioning that he wasn't close to any of his siblings.

"Absolutely. How else would I know?" Damon told her with a smug look on his face. But at that moment Elena's voice rang throughout the house.

"Stefan?" Elena called as she pushed the door further open. As soon as she saw Madeline and a man she's never seen before standing together, she was at loss for words and extremely confused.

"Madeline?" Elena said after glancing at Damon.

"Oh...Hi Elena." Madeline said feeling uncomfortable. She knew something was going on between Elena and Stefan. I was kind of hard to miss. She just didn't want to give the wrong impression to Elena.

"I'm looking for Stefan." Elena told them, trying to push down the unwanted feeling of jealousy. She knew she was starting to develop a crush on Stefan, but she didn't know if he was into Madeline. As far as she could tell, they were friends, but she didn't know if there were feelings beyond that.

"He should be here any second." Damon stepped in. "I don't believe we've met. I am Damon; Stefan's brother."

"He didn't tell me he had a brother." Elena pointed out, looking a little disappointed that Stefan didn't tell her.

"He didn't tell me either." Madeline said trying to make Elena feel better, but Elena just sent a glare her way. Madeline was taken back at this and immediately looked down at the ground.

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag." Damon said taking the attention off of Madeline after watching the one sided looks that were being passed between the two. He then walked away from the door so that Elena could enter. When she came in she looked at her surroundings and said, "Wow, this is your living room?"

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste. I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." Madeline sent him a questioning look.

"Last one?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend? Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet." Damon said. But Madeline saw right through him. She could tell he was up to no good, but she didn't understand why.

"Well, Stefan's only been in town a few days. You can't expect him to spill all the information about his past to people he doesn't really know. Some people like their secrets, you know?." Madeline said towards Damon, hoping that that would get him to stop doing whatever he was trying to do.

"Oops. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end." This time Damon said it towards Madeline. Madeline scrunched her eyebrows up at him, trying to figure him out.

"You say that like every relationship is doomed to end." Elena said. Damon kept his eyes on Madeline for a moment longer before turning away and saying, "I'm a fatalist. Hello, Stefan." Both Madeline and Elena turned around and saw Stefan standing there completely stiff while glaring at Damon. When Stefan asked Madeline to come over he thought that he would get there first.

The last thing he wanted was for her to meet his brother. He knew that Damon would try and use her for leverage to try and irritate him. It was bad enough that Damon knew about Elena he didn't want to drag Madeline into this sibling rivalry thing.

"Elena. I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan said still keeping his eyes on Damon. If looks could kill Damon would be laying on his deathbed.

"I know I should have called. I just…" Elena stuttered. She also wondered why he didn't mention anything about Madeline being there.

"Oh, don't be silly. You're welcome any time. Isn't she, Stefan? You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies. But...I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." Damon teased. Elena looked hopeful for a second, but then Stefan said, "Thank you for stopping by, Elena. Nice to see you." Elena automatically felt uncomfortable.

"Yeah I should probably go. It was nice meeting you Damon." Elena said awkwardly.

"Great meeting you too Elena." Damon picked up Elena's hand and left a soft kiss on it. When he let go of her hand she turned and walked towards Stefan who was blocking the exit.

"Stefan...Stefan?" Elena said, but Stefan's eyes were glued on to Damon's.

"Stefan." Madeline said, hoping to snap Stefan out of whatever hateful trance he was in. Stefan's eyes shot to Madeline. They lingered on her for a second before he moved out of the way. Elena looked back at Madeline and wondered why Stefan moved for her. She knew she was being childish for being jealous, but she could help but feel a pull toward Stefan. She mentally shook her head before turning around and leaving.

When the door closed Madeline looked between the two brothers and sensed a tension she didn't want to be apart of.

"Okay, um I'm going to go wait in my car if you still want to hang out. I'll let you two to deal with...whatever this is." Madeline told Stefan, who nodded at her. She let her eyes turn to Damon, suspiciously.

"It was great to finally meet you, Madeline. I hope to see you again." Damon said, with a smug look on his face. Madeline didn't want to be rude so she offered him a small smile and a nod before leaving the house. As soon as the door closed behind her Damon turned to Stefan.

"Elena. Great gal. Whoo. She's got spunk. And Madeline; I don't know, there's just something about her. I like it." Stefan stiffened at the way he was talking about Madeline and Elena. "You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you overexert yourself today? Let me guess...hospital." Damon added.

"Someone had to clean up your mess." Stefan retorted, glaring at his older brother.

"Well, were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right." Damon tried to get Stefan to doubt himself, but Stefan was almost sure it worked. He wasn't positive, but he tried his best to compel Vicki to forget about being attacked by a vampire. Well as well as he could, considering his current diet.

"How long were they here?" Stefan asked, changing the subject.

"Were you worried, Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Isn't that why you play your little game, 'I'm a high school human'?" Damon taunted.

"I'm not playing any game."

"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it." Damon sneered in Stefan's ear before proceeding past him.

"What kind of game are you playing, Damon?"

"I guess you'll have to wait and see. You better get going before Madeline leaves without you. Or I could go with her. I can see why you like her so much." Damon teased.

"Stay away from her, Damon."

* * *

Madeline sighed to herself and got ready to start the car and leave. She guessed Stefan needed some time to sort out whatever problem he was having with his brother. Just as she was about to drive away Stefan walked out of the door and ran up to passengers seat.

"Sorry, I took so long." He immediately apologized as he seated himself and closed the car door.

"It's okay." Madeline told him, just happy he didn't ditch her.

"I'm also sorry about back there. My brother just…" Madeline stopped him halfway through his sentence.

"It's fine Stefan. You don't have to apologize. You have a complicated family. I understand how that is more than anybody." She ensured him. She didn't want to make him think he had to tell her what happened. She understood that everyone had their family problems.

Stefan couldn't stop the small smile from forming on his face. Something he liked about Madeline was that she never pried into his personal life. "So, where are we going?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I thought about for a little bit and I've decided I want it to be a surprise." She declared, with a smile.

"Should I be worried?" He asked, even though he wasn't.

"Rationally; yes. For all you know I could be driving us off a cliff." Madeline said, playfully with a shrug.

Stefan chuckled, "I think I'll take my chances." He couldn't possibly imagine her ever doing something like that. The thought amused him.

"Okay, your call. But before we go, you should go back inside and get another pair of clothes you can change into."

* * *

"Let me guess, your favorite color is...blue!" Madeline guesses as they went back and forth.

"Nope. It's green." He corrected.

"Well I was close. Blue is close to green. On some level at least." She pouted, but it just made Stefan laugh.

"I think your favorite color is… purple." Stefan guesses and Madeline groaned.

"I hate that your so good at this game. It's really not fair." She told him, glancing his way, but trying to keep her eyes on the road.

"You look like a purple kind of person." He shrugged.

"So not true. I think I'm more a…red. Yeah, definitely." She said. They've been playing this game since they left the boarding house and Stefan had managed to get most of the questions right. The questions, of course, weren't personal. They made sure to steer clear of those kinds of questions.

"How much longer till we get to this mysterious place of yours?" He asked, since they have been driving for about 20 minutes.

"Are you not enjoying my company?" She joked. Stefan had yet to see this side of Madeline, but he was glad he was.

"You know that's not true. Just making sure you weren't serious about that whole cliff threat thing." He laughed.

"Well lucky for you, we're here." She said, stopping her car in front of the woods. She didn't wait for him to react as she jumped out of the car. Stefan looked around, confused, before getting out of the car as well.

"Where are we?" He asked. Madeline looked back at him and smiled.

"Follow me." She instructed before running off into the woods. Stefan looked at her like she was crazy, but he still ran after her at human speed.

She ran until she was out of the woods and on concrete. She didn't need to look behind her to know that Stefan was there. He slowly walked up next to her and looked at where he was. They were standing at a cliff and the only thing below them was water. He looked over at Madeline, who was just looking out at the water.

"What are we doing here?" He asked, still confused, but as soon as Madeline turned her head to face him with a smirk on her face, everything clicked.

"We're going to jump, aren't we?" He guessed.

"If your to scared, I completely understand." She teased.

"You've got to be kidding me." Stefan laughed. He pulled his shirt off over his head while Madeline yank off her shorts. Then Stefan pulled down his pants leaving him in boxers.

Stefan tried his best not to stare at Madeline whilst she was in just a tank top and underwear. Little did he know Madeline was having the same problem. So she just ignored the fact that Stefan was wearing close to nothing and said, "So who is going to jump first?"

"We jump at the same time." Stefan said. Madeline nodded her head. They both took a few steps back and bolted forward until the hard cement was no longer under their feet. As they were in the air they took a deep breath before hitting the water.

After a few seconds they emerged from under water they quickly inhaled and then bursted into laughter.

"I can't believe we just did that." Stefan said facing Madeline.

"I thought you could use a little bit of excitement in your life." Madeline said trying to keep her head above water.

"Who's to say I don't already have enough excitement?" Stefan asked.

"Believe me you don't." Madeline said before splashing water at Stefan.

"Oh really." They both began to splash water at each other and laugh wildly.

* * *

When they were finally done in the water they got there spare clothes from Madeline's car. She decided to go into the woods and stand behind a tree, so Stefan couldn't see her. He stayed by the cliff and changed.

Once she changed into a pair of black leggings and a red zip up sweater, she stepped out of the woods and caught a glimpse of Stefan pulling his shirt over his head. She quickly cleared her throat, making sure he knew she was there, but he already knew due to his enhanced hearing.

Without exchanging any words they both moved to go sit at the edge of the cliff with there legs dangling in the air.

"Well this was fun." Madeline commented, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have expected this to be the place you took me too." He said. Before today he never would've guessed she was adventurous.

"Well, you don't know me very well, so I don't blame you." She shrugged. She liked doing things that would make others scared. Not things that were to dangerous, though. She was smarter than that. But for example; she loved heights. She loved the feeling of butterflies in her stomach when she's in air. It felt...exhilarating.

"You're right. I don't really know you. But I'd like to." He responded, truthfully.


	4. Chapter Four: The Night of the Comet B

_**Chapter Four: Night of the Comet Part B**_

By the time Stefan and Madeline arrived at town's square to watch the comet they were mostly dry. During the whole car drive Stefan opened up to her about some parts of his life, obviously leaving out the vampire part, and she willingly listened. He told her about Katherine and how him and Damon have a sort of patchy past.

Madeline told him about her little brother who just came back into town, but that was really it. She never really liked talking about her past. Especially about her sister. It might have happened a few years ago, but it still haunted her like a recurring bad dream. Except it wasn't a bad dream; it was real. She also didn't like talking about her parents. She didn't really have much of a relationship with them. After everything that's happened, the whole family changed and grew apart. However, Madeline and Max always stuck together.

Madeline and Stefan grabbed candles from one of the girls who were helping Caroline pass them out. Then Madeline noticed Elena looking their way with an almost sad expression on her face. Madeline looked over at Stefan who was looking at the sky.

"So many people think that it's some kind of harbinger of evil, but how could something so beautiful be evil?" Madeline told him while looking at the comet. Stefan looked over at her and asked, "What do you think it is?"

She paused for a second before answering, "I think it's just a ball of ice that got blamed for something terrible that happened when it came home."

It was silent for a second before Madeline abruptly turned towards Stefan, catching his attention. "You should go talk to Elena. I think Damon really got under her skin earlier today." She felt bad for Elena because she could tell that she seemed to like Stefan, but when Damon told her all of this stuff about Katherine and how he was looking for a rebound it must've messed with her head a little bit.

Stefan looked over at Elena who was looking his way, but as soon as he made eye contact with her she looked away. He knew he had fix whatever was going on between them, but a part of him didn't want to leave Madeline, because last time he did that she ended up in the woods being groped by Tyler.

He sighed before saying, "I think you're right. I won't be long."

Madeline nodded at him, giving him the go to go and talk to her and he complied. She watched as he walked up to Elena and got his candle lit. She smiled to herself before turning around and walking towards a secluded area on the grass, where it was quieter.

So many thoughts were going through her head, but she couldn't make out any of them. A big thought that was going through her head was that she was happy. Her brother was finally back and she even met a guy who turned out to be really nice. Everything was finally going right for her, for once. She hoped it could stay the way it was forever, but she knew it was inevitable that things would change eventually. She just prayed that it wasn't anytime soon.

"Hello, Madeline." Madeline jumped at the sudden voice she heard from behind her. She turned around and when she saw Damon she broke out into a smile.

"Jesus, you scared me." She told him, holding a hand to her chest to try and calm her heart down.

Damon smirked, as if that was his intention. "Sorry, I just saw you over here and wondered why you're all by yourself."

"I came with Stefan, but he's somewhere talking to Elena." She told him, weirdly getting nervous under his gaze, so she tried her best to look anywhere but his eyes.

"And here I thought you and him were having a little thing going on." Damon dug, obviously not having the best intentions.

Madeline laughed, "Stefan and I are just friends. He's way out of my league anyways." Damon found it ridiculous that she would think that. Elena was, indeed, very beautiful, but Madeline was something else. Something more, but in a different sort of way.

"That's ridiculous. You're beautiful, I'm sure Stef has a little crush on you, he just doesn't want to admit it." Damon told her and she couldn't help a blush from spreading across her cheeks when he called her beautiful, but she also thought about what he said about Stefan having a crush on her.

"How are you so sure? I mean, it's very clear that him and Elena have something going on." She pointed out looking over at where Stefan and Elena were looking up at the sky together.

"Yeah, he has taken an interest on Elena." Damon said, glancing over at the almost-couple as well before looking back over at Madeline, "But he'd be stupid to not like you." He added, using a finger to move a piece of hair out of her face and in that moment Madeline found it very difficult to look away from his steel blue orbs.

Over where Elena and Stefan were, they were too caught up in there conversation to notice Madeline or Damon or the moment they were having.

"You know, that comet...it's been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone." Stefan says to Elena as they look at the sky.

"Yeah, Bonnie says it's a harbinger of evil." Elena told him.

"I think it's just a ball of...snow and ice, trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to come home. I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't myself." Stefan apologized.

"You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing."

"Well, I have a lot to apologize for. Yesterday, that wasn't about you, okay?"

"You didn't tell me that you had a brother." Elena pointed out. Stefan couldn't help, but feel a little bad, but in his defense, he didn't want anybody knowing about Damon. He was dangerous and Stefan didn't want to put the people in this town in danger. Especially Elena and Madeline.

"We're not close. It's, uh...it's complicated." Stefan scratched the back of his head.

"Always. He told me about your ex, Katherine." Stefan was surprised by that. He didn't remember Madeline mentioning that Damon said anything about Katherine.

"What did he say?"

"That she broke your heart."

"That was a long time ago." Then all of a sudden, something caught Stefan's eye. He saw Madeline standing with Damon. What made him angrier was that Damon stepped closer and moved a strand of hair from her face. He wasn't sure why that made him so angry, but watching Damon get so close to the girl he's grown fond of was frustrating.

"When you lose someone, it stays with you, always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt." Elena said, bringing Stefan's gaze back to her. He looked at her for a second before looking back at where he just saw Madeline and Damon, but this time when he looked over they were gone.

He immediately panicked. His thoughts went straight to all the things Damon could do or say to her and he knew he needed to go looking for them.

"Elena...I'm uh, sorry. I have to go." He said, before walking off as quickly as he could, leaving Elena with hurt in her eyes.

Stefan started looked around Towns Square, hoping to see or hear Madeline. "Hey, Stefan." He heard a male voice greet him. He turned around and saw it was only Matt.

"Oh hey, Matt." He said back.

"Have you seen my sister? Nobody can find her." Matt asked him, clearly worried.

"No, sorry. I'll make sure to keep an eye out, though." Stefan assured him.

"I saw you at the hospital." Matt brought up. Stefan was surprised at first, but made sure not to show it.

"I was visiting." Stefan told him, basically lying through his teeth. Matt didn't look convinced at all.

"You know I've known Elena and Madeline my whole life. I look out for them. I'll always look out for them." Matt said, in an almost threatening voice. Stefan was going to respond, but the sounds of someone screaming filled his ears.

"You really have to stop screaming." Stefan heard his brother's voice. He turned his head and saw two figures standing on top of a roof.

"Excuse me." Stefan said to Matt before walking away.

Once Matt was out of sight, Stefan used his enhanced speed to run up to the roof.

"Not bad. Have you been eating bunnies?" Damon commented, amusingly.

"Let her go." Stefan instructed, referring to Vicki.

Damon shrugged his shoulders at his request, "Okay." he said simply, before pulling Vicki further to the edge of the building.

"No, no, no." Stefan said, attempting to stop Damon from what he was doing, while Vicki was pleading for Damon to let her go.

Damon rolled his eyes, "Ugh, relax," he said, throwing Vicki into Stefan's arms.

"Where is she?" Stefan asked, referring to Madeline.

"Who?" Damon asked innocently.

"You know exactly who. Don't play dumb." Stefan told him, growing angry.

"Don't worry Stef. I didn't hurt her. She told me she was heading home. I guess she didn't think it was important enough to tell you."

* * *

After the whole ordeal with Damon and Vicki, Stefan went to Elena's house to apologize for leaving so quickly. That whole conversation ended in them sharing a very confusing kiss. Well, only confusing on Stefan's part. He wasn't sure of his feelings for the doppelganger. Maybe it was because of the short blue eyed girl that had captured his attention, or maybe it was just because he was wrong about his feelings for Elena. Whatever it was, he knew he had to figure it out soon.

Meanwhile, he was on his way to Madeline's house. When he finally arrived he decided to knock on the front door opposed to the door that went to Madeline's room. After a few seconds the door swung open, but Madeline wasn't the one standing on the other side of the door. Instead, it was her kid brother, Max.

Stefan was startled for a second, but guessed that this was the brother Madeline had told him about. "Who are you?" Max asked, glaring up at Stefan.

"I'm uh, Stefan. Madeline's friend." Stefan told him, politely.

"Oh, she told me about you. You're the new guy in town right?" Max asked, softening his gaze.

"Yeah. Um, who are you?" Stefan asked, still not knowing the little boy's name.

"I'm Max, Madeline's kid brother." Max introduced.

"Maxy? Who are you talking too?" Madeline asked as she walked into the living room after hearing her brother talking to someone. When she saw her brother at the door talking to Stefan she froze for a second.

"Stefan. He's here to see you." Max told his older sister. Stefan looked up at Madeline who was now dressed in her pajamas with her hair messily tied up and smiled.

"Hi." Madeline said to Stefan with a small smile.

"Hi." he said back.

"Teenagers are gross." Max muttered before walking away from the door and up to his room.

"What, uh. What are you doing here?" Madeline asked as she walked closer to the door.

"Well you sort of left out of the blue and didn't say bye or anything, so I wanted to check on you. See if you were okay." Stefan explained, making Madeline smile. She was surprised he even cared that much. I mean, she knew that she shouldn't be surprised since the two were friends and all, but she just thought that he would be to wrapped up with Elena to notice.

"I'm fine. I just…I don't know, I kinda just got tired and wanted to go home I guess. I didn't want to bother you or anything since you were talking to Elena and all." She explained, but when she tried to think about why she left so quickly, her mind went blank.

Stefan notice this and could only come up with one reason for it; Damon. "I uh, I saw you with Damon earlier when we were watching the comet." He brought up.

"Oh yeah. I didn't think he'd show up to that sort of thing. He seems nice." Madeline told him as her mind drifted back to her conversation with Damon.

"He's not." Stefan quickly said, making Madeline give him a weird look. "Just believe me. He's bad news." Stefan quickly added.

"Oh." Madeline said simply, not knowing what else to say. She didn't want to argue against him and say Damon wasn't bad because she didn't really know Damon that well and he did give off the bad guy kind of vibe. Plus, Stefan was his brother and she thought that if anyone knew Damon it would be Stefan. "Anyways, how'd things go with Elena. Did you fix things?" Madeline asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Uh, yeah." Stefan said, scratching the back of his neck, awkwardly. "We kissed."

"Oh." Madeline said surprised. "That's um...that's good. I mean for you two. Do you like her?" Madeline asked, surprising herself with her question.

She had always known that Elena liked Stefan just from the way she acted, but she wasn't sure if Stefan reciprocated those feelings.

"I don't know. I uh I think so." Stefan said, a little unsure.

"Well if you're happy, I'm happy." Madeline told him with a supportive smile. "I should probably go get Max to bed. I'll see you at school though, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Goodnight." Stefan said.

"Goodnight, Stefan." And with that Madeline closed the door.


End file.
